Primary Documents - Joseph Joffre on the Battle of Verdun, 3 August 1916

Often described as the
greatest battle of the war, casualties on both sides were immense.
German Army Chief of Staff
Erich von
Falkenhayn's stated intention was to "bleed France white" in the
latter's defence of Verdun.

Such virtually proved to be
the case - although the scale of German losses brought Falkenhayn much
criticism. Indeed the failure to capture Verdun ultimately resulted in
Falkenhayn's removal as Chief of Staff and
Paul von
Hindenburg's installation (along with
Erich
Ludendorff). The Crown Prince was himself subsequently described
as "the butcher of Verdun" for his role in the battle.

In his official statement (below)
Joffre suggested that Germany was exhausting all of its manpower reserves
and that defeat could not be staved off indefinitely. At the same
however he argued that it was not possible to predict when the Verdun
offensive would end.

Click here
to read Falkenhayn's justification for the offensive.
Click here
to read Crown Prince Wilhelm's summary of the battle.
Click here
to read Wilhelm's summary of its abandonment.
Click here
to read von Hindenburg's decision to call off the offensive.
Click here
to read Erich Ludendorff's dismissive view of the battle.
Click here
to read British newspaper baron
Lord Northcliffe's despatch during the early
days of the battle.
Click here to read a French memoir of the German attack on Le Mort Homme
in May 1916.
Click here for a memoir of the struggle for Fort Douaumont the same
month.
Click
here for a memoir of the German assault upon Fort Vaux in June 1916.
Click here to read General Millerand's official account of the see-saw
fighting at Thiaumont in July and August 1916.
Click here
to read a semi-official German historian's account of the end of the battle.
Click here
to read General von Zwehl's memorandum issued immediately before the French
recapture of Forts Vaux and Douaumont.
Click here
to read Ludendorff's statement regarding the loss of Forts Vaux and
Douaumont.
Click here to read French General
Pierre Dubois's
view of the German approach at Verdun.
Click here to read a French
staff officer's account of the recapture of Fort Douaumont in October 1916.

Official Announcement by
Joseph Joffre, 3 August 1916

The great sacrifices which
France has supported at Verdun have given our Allies time to build up their
resources, have enabled us to mature our plans and carry them out with
perfect appreciation of the necessities of all fronts.

We are now able to employ
all our resources simultaneously in a thoroughgoing way. I desire to
pay homage to the manner wherein all the Allies are fulfilling their part.

Drawing on her
inexhaustible resources Russia has been afforded time to bring forward men
in ever-increasing numbers, and is now deploying her huge armies with
telling effect in Galicia, Volhynia, and Armenia.

Great Britain, too, has had
time in the past two years to show the world the extent of her varied
resources. Her troops are proving their splendid valour on the Somme,
showing what a determined nation can do in such times as these.

No doubt Italy has a
difficult and limited part to play in a more restricted sphere of action,
but her troops are fulfilling their role splendidly.

The Serbian army is
beginning at this moment to enter the firing-line anew.

We know positively that our
enemies, although fighting as desperately as ever, are drawing on their last
reserves. Up to now they have followed the policy of transferring
their reserves from one place to another, but in face of the Allies' united
effort they now find it impossible, and will find it increasingly impossible
in future, to pursue such methods. All our sources of information
confirm that.

It is not for me to say how
long this struggle is going to last, but the question matters little.
We know that the rupture is coming. You, no doubt, feel as well as we
do, that we have reached the turning point.

The five months' resistance
of the French troops at Verdun has shattered the plans of the German Staff,
and brought us round the corner, heading for victory. Don't, however,
imagine that there is yet a marked weakening of the German effort on the
western front. Two-thirds of their finest troops are still opposed to
us on this side. The English and French face 122 of their best
divisions. On the Russian front the Germans have 50 divisions to which
must, of course, be added the Austrian armies.

I won't go into details on
the condition and temper of the French army. You cannot do better than
avail yourself of the facilities to see our troops in the field with your
own eyes. You will see the army as it is after two years of the
hardest fighting. You will see an army of which the spirit and energy
have been vastly increased by this bitter struggle.

To that I can add that the
number of our troops at the front is greater now than at the beginning of
the war. I can think of no more eloquent fact than that as
illustrating France's capacity for waging a just war. The country is
determined to see the war to a victorious conclusion. The Allies are
fighting not merely for the respective interests of their countries, but for
the liberty of the world, and will not stop till the world's liberty is
definitely assured.